California Institute of Technology Cal Tech - Big T Yearbook (Pasadena, CA)

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RESEARCH The 5 01M Fumace Gw'nding Machine for 120-13261: Mirror PETROLEUM RESEARCH FOR SEVERAL years the American Petroleum Institute has been sup- porting a research project at Califor- nia Institute to study the behavior of hydrocarbons, such as are found in petroleum and natural gas, under conditions comparable to those found in the underground petroleum pools. This involves experimental studies at temperatures up to 220 degrees Fah- renheit and at pressures as high as 3000 pounds per square inch. The field being explored is one in Which relatively little work has been done, although it is of great interest to the petroleum industry. Ten published papers have resulted from these researches to date and others are continually in course of preparation. This important piece of work is under the direction of DOCTOR WILLIAM N. LACEY and BRUCE H. SAGE. 420 INC'H GKINDLufG EVJIVPOLIJHlNG MACHINE Awe be A The newly constructed solar fur- nace has been used thus far entirely by research workers in the chemistry department under the direction of 26 DR. R. G. DICKINSON. Temperatures of 3000 degrees centigrade have al- ready been obtained, and the workers expect to reach 4600 degrees when the apparatus is in perfect adjust- ment. Severe burns in unexpected places have resulted from the light from a poorly adjusted lense. BIOLOGY RESEARCH in the biology department is necessarily of the slow, unspec- tacular type, extending over a period of years, and never completed. The problems of genetics in flies first attracted the attention of DR. T HOMAS H. MORGAN about twenty years ago, and are still in progress under the direction of DOCTORS MOR-

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C. LAURITSEN, CARL D. ANDERSON, and SETH H. NIEDDERMEYER and HORACE R. CRANE, neutrons, posi- trons and deutons have been pro- duced and the effects of their bom- bardment on common substance studied. Atomic bullets, heavy hydro- gen particles made from the so-called uheavy water, have been used as a means of creating new radio-active substances, bringing about a marked advance in the scientific held by the introduction for the first time of a purely artificial technique and ma- terial. By bombarding, various light- er elements have been changed into heavier elements with strong radio- active properties. This radio-active energy is given OH in the form of the newly discovered positrons, or posi- tive electrons, and gamma rays. Carbon, under bombardment, changed to radiO-active nitrogen, and boron was changed to carbon. The positrons ejected by these newly cre- ated elements are being studied by DR. CARL D. ANDERSON, their dis- coverer. CHEMISTRY THE research work of the chemistry department has been of unusual in- terest this past year. Not greatly spectacular, it is of a sort which must go on over a period of years. Strangely enough, one of the most important pieces of chemical research has been carried in the astro-physics building. This has been the electron diffraction research under the direc- tion or DR. LAWRENCE O. BROCK- WAY. For some time x-rays have been used in the study of crystal struc- tures, and now the molecular struc- ture of gases may be determined by the use of electrons to replace the x-rays. DR. ARNOLD O. BECKMAN and his assistants have been working with a magneto-optic apparatus in an at- tempt to discover the fundamental phenomenon involved. Very short waves have been investigated by DR. BECKMAN as a possible reason for its operation. Fluorine, the strongest chemical oxidizing agent, has been the subject of research by DR. DON M. YOST. Special technique and apparatus were developed by him. 25 RESEARCH Dr. Lauritxen zmd Richard Crane McCullough and Dr. Beckmzm

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GAN and ALFRED H. STURTEVANT. They have been assisted in the lab- oratory by two Carnegie Founda- tion scholars, DOCTORS BRIDGES and SCHULTZ. Also in the field of genetics, corn has been used as the experimental subject by DR. ERNEST G. ANDERSON, most of the work being done on a farm at Arcadia. DOCTORS MORGAN and ALBERT TYLER have carried on considerable work in embryology at the Institute marine station, with the lower forms of marine animals. Energy relationships of chemical changes in organisms have been the subject of investigation of DR. HENRY BORSOOK in the field of bio- chemistry. DR. ROBERT EMERSON, in bio-physics, has been studying the reactions of photosynthesisesunlight on green plants. A kindred subject has been chosen by DR. FRITS WENT, in the method of growth of plants. WILLIAM BERGREN, tall leader of the orchestra, worked hrst this year with anaesthetics, later with vitamins and with oxidation-reduction systems. ASTRO-PHYSICS WORK in the department of astro- physics has centered around the con- struction of the 200-inch telescope. Machinery has been built to grind the 120-inch mirror, recently received from the East. This is to be ground to a perfectly plane surface and sil- vered for use in testing the larger mirror When it has been ground to the proper parabolic form. 27 RESEARCH Dr. Franklin Thoma; William Bergren